Two acquitted in rape and abduction case in Delhi

New Delhi: Two men, accused of abducting and raping a woman after forcibly marrying her in 1994, have been acquitted by a Delhi court which said the complainant had "voluntarily" married one of the accused as she was in love with him.

The court also acquitted three others, including a woman, of the charges of conspiracy and forcefully causing abortion of the complainant saying the prosecution has failed to prove any conspiracy among the accused for committing any offence.

"In view of the above, the prosecution has miserably failed to prove that the prosecutrix was kidnapped/abducted and compelled/forced into illicit intercourse or that the accused Vinod Kumar had sexual intercourse with her against her consent or that she was even intimidated/threatened to be killed or was blackmailed to be defamed.

"Thus, the prosecution has failed to prove charges under sections 366 (kidnapping or abducting a woman to compel her marriage), 376 (rape)/120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and 506 (criminal intimidation)/34 (common intention) of the IPC against accused Vinod Kumar and Vinod Handa," Additional Sessions Judge Poonam A Bamba said.

According to the prosecution, the complainant had alleged that on the recommendation of accused Vinod Kumar she got married to accused Vinod Handa in June 1994 at Ambala in Haryana but later her husband "vanished" after leaving her in a room in Khan Market here.

She had said that Vinod Kumar came there and abused her and when she resisted, he, along with his sister Indra and her husband Suresh, threatened to kill her. Indra, Suresh and one Ashok Kumar were co-accused in the case.

She had also alleged that Vinod Kumar had told her that he had "purchased" her from Handa and thereafter she was locked in the room and was kept there for around two weeks during which she was blackmailed as the accused had taken her indecent photographs.